Back in 1982 George A. Romero brought us CREEPSHOW, a horror anthology that has since become a favorite amongst horror fans everywhere. Arriving later this year, or early next is Creepshow Raw, a new online series inspired by the original films. The series will consists of 10-13 episode that all run about 6-8 minutes long. We caught up with Producer Todd Roy who talks in detail about what we can expect, all of the details can be found inside. Also beyond the break you’ll discover the first badass trailer, along with a batch of exclusive stills.

Trailer can be viewed at the bottom

This past week we caught up with Producer Todd Roy who talked about how his love for CREEPSHOW started and also give us some insight into what exactly CREEPYSHOW RAW is.

“I think I was about 11 when I saw CREEPSHOW in the theater and that film just stuck with me,” he explains. “Watching people get what they deserve in some of the funniest and scary ways was…. well, it was fun! For this online series, we wanted to maintain that experience from the feature, but present it in a short form format. And because we are creating this for online viewing, we wanted to push the humor, horror and story concepts to grab viewers today without loosing the tone of what made CREEPSHOW special. Calling it CREEPSHOW RAW is our way of conveying these concepts and challenges.”

The original CREEPSHOW was a horror anthology, meaning multiple stories under one film banner, Roy explains how this form will stay in tact – unless there’s a way to tie them all together.

“That is the plan [to make self-contained stories], however, if there is an opportunity to have some cross over element, we might do that, as long as the story is not dependent on it. But if it can be done…. why not?”

Two other important elements of a CREEPSHOW film is there must be a twist and there must be comic transitions, Todd assures us both will be included (you can see art below!)

“If we do our jobs well, YES! There will be twists,” he explains adding that comic art is another way to pay homage “[Comic art] is another small way for us to pay tribute to the source material,” he adds. “We are finding that many artist (comic book and/or otherwise) are fans of the original CREEPSHOW. We were very lucky to get Alex Pardee to make the illustrations for the pilot (see below) and I have to admit, I really want to frame the Madsen one cause it is so damn cool!”

This online series will also be pretty bloody, if you couldn’t tell from the trailer.

“It’s bloody to the point of being disgusting, but I have to say the visuals are only part of it. The Engine Room came on board and is creating some sound design magic that really enhances the episode in ways I could not have imagined.”

Roy talks a bit about the team behind the online series.
“HD FILMS is only involved with the creation of the online series called CREEPSHOW RAW and our goal is to make this something unique and special onto itself. As you know, Taurus Entertainment owns CREEPSHOW and Jim Dudelson and Ana Clavell have been great to work with while we realize our own vision for what CREEPSHOW RAW can be. They have been supportive, given key suggestions – before and after we shot the pilot – and have patiently sat back and watched while we have played in their sand box. It has been a joy to work with them. Also, on the HD FILMS side of things, I was lucky to have Marti Restighini, our VP of development, acting as my supervising producer and keeping me out of trouble.”

Roy also talks a bit about himself, along with HD Films President and Producer Jace Hall, who created some very popular horror games you probably own.

“Jason Hall who owns HD FILMS, used to run the video game division here at Warner Brothers, but before that, he had a company called MONOLITH and was responsible for making some of the coolest and scariest narrative based video games around (He worked on three of the 10 IGN scariest games of all-time… including number 1 CONDEMNED and F.E.A.R.) Also, he’s a huge fan of CREEPSHOW and gets it. And because of that, he is the most critical of the creative processes and the first to call BS if things are not CREEPSHOW enough.

“As for me, I had known Jason for years and when he started HD FILMS he asked if I wanted to come join the team. Before that, I owned a laser show company and had been making independent films and documentaries and got into creating an internet series* back when online video was just getting started.”

Lastly, Roy talks a bit about what wil make this series special for CREEPSHOW fans.

“Just know that a lot of care and thought went into this. When you put CREEPSHOW on something, there is an expectation that fans have and we had better get close to that or we are going to get flamed.” He continues, “If you have not seen CREEPSHOW and have no idea what it is, we want you to see something that stands above any other horror offering you might come across. I think that between the amazing acting talent in our pilot, Wilmer Valderrama’s enthusiasm and attention to detail while directing and Stephen Reedy’s great eye for the action, we really made something special.”

*I actually reviewed KWOON, his kung fu series on DVD years ago here. Before it became a DVD, it was a web series that started back in early 2000. Roy joked a bit about it with us, “I think I was the first person to loose lots of money in new media… so I have that going for me. Actually though, that entire process did developed skills sets that are very useful in this space now. Especially with the limitations this short form content requires.”